Star Hunters (Working Title: Open to suggestions)
by Bait Master
Summary: This story is an odd combination of ideas from a bunch of different Sci-Fi series. This story is inspired mainly by the game Rimworld, and there are plenty of cues from series like Star Wars, Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, Star Trek, etc. Effectively everything in this series will be OC because I just had a feeling to write about Bounty Hunters in Space, not specifically Rimworld.
1. Chapter 1

**Ch 1**

I woke to a sudden jolt of the ship.

Groggy but awake, I asked Maggie, "What just happened."

"The ionic propulsion system simply had to reboot after an efficiency update," the AI responded. "If you are so worried, maybe you should try to stay awake."

"You know me Mags. Sleep is for the weak."

"If I could laugh, I would sarcastically laugh. Please get some rest, Captain. I will wake you if need be. I will continue to navigate our course to the Jexian System."

"Ah, Mags. You always know how to take care of me," I responded with a sigh.

"I would hope I know how, considering I'm stuck with you."

I both loved and hated that AI Units were programed with personality.

I began to doze off again to the soothing hum of the control console.

Because what I dreamed about was a bit personal, I'll just fill this gap of my Adventure Log with some much needed information. My name is Wes Jackson and I am the Captain of the beautiful Red Ray. She's a fine little ship, but a bit old. She gets the job done, though. I'm an intergalactic bounty hunter. I tend to work alone.

To be honest, at this point in my adventures the most interaction I had was with my Ship's AI Maggie. She was a good companion and all, but I was on the hunt for a few crew members. Three to be exact. That's why I was headed to the Jexian System, a collection of small planets haven to small time bounty hunters.

I wasn't a big time hunter myself, having only started the occupation a couple months prior to this, but I had enough experience where I felt I needed to help others hunt and get some help myself.

After my lewd dream, I woke up to Maggie's soothing voice.

"Captian? Captain? Wake up. We are approaching Jexian One," the AI whispered.

"Alright. Give me a minute and then switch over to manual control," I yawned.

I opened my eyes to a small turquoise planet. Jexian One. The planet was mostly water, but there were small clusters of islands here and there. The capitol, Sea City, was the large gray mass that stuck out like a sore thumb. It was an artificial floating island that housed most of the planet's population.

I felt pretty awake, so I placed my hands on the throttles.

"Switching to manual, Captain," Maggie stated.

"Taking control," I responded.

As the planet became larger and larger, I began to pull the ship ever so slowly into a good angle of descent.

"Prepare to activate the heat shields and radiators, Mags."

"Already on it, Captain."

As the ship reached 60 thousand meters from the surface, I cut ion propulsion to 25%. Even on small ships, thrusters are much too powerful when used in an atmosphere, especially one as thick as the planets in the Jexian system.

"Activate heat shields and radiators."

"Activated."

I felt the ship convert to its heat shield mode, covering most of the bridge window with a clunky metal cowl. The cowl began to glow a faint red as we began to rocket through the atmosphere. The ship began to rumble and rattle as we dropped into the thicker stuff. Then, the Red Ray began to slow down and the red glow faded away. We had successfully entered the atmosphere.

"Easy peasy," I sighed.

"Don't act like such a tough guy," Maggie taunted. "We both know you hate reentry."

"Deactivate heat shield and radiators," I chuckled.

"On it."

After the ship converted, I saw a beautiful turquoise ocean through the window. Ahead, I could see the outline of Sea City. I slowly began cutting thruster power more and more as the ship slowly glided closer to the ocean. My favorite thing about the Red Ray was her design. She was modeled after a Manta Ray, so she was not only a space vehicle, but a boat and submarine as well.

The ship was feet about the surface of the water, so I braced for splashdown. As her belly split the waves, the Red Ray slowed down drastically to a well-paced glide across the ocean surface.

"Splashdown successful," Maggie reported. "We are approximately 10 miles from the coast of Sea City. I calculate our time of arrival to be about 15 minutes from now."

"Alright. It's smooth sailing until then," I responded. "Mags, take control. Just get us to the Western Harbor."

"Aye aye, Captain."

I let go of the controls and Maggie kept us on course. I decided I should gather my stuff and, more importantly, my Credits. I would probably need a decent chunk of change to hire three crew members. I unharnessed myself from the captain's chair and stood up. Slightly dizzy, I stretched for a moment before making my way to my quarters behind the bridge.

In my room, I grabbed my holster, gun, duster, and Credits. I buckled my holster belt around my hips and spun my fully charged .44 R-Tech Magnum in my hand, placing it into the holster like an old cowboy. Railgun Technologies, or R-Tech for short, was the galaxy's leading hand-held space weaponry producer. By compacting the technology used in railguns, their weapons were able to run off of electricity, and be used in the vacuum of space. I also made sure I had extra .44 Rail Rounds in the clips on my holster belt. I put on the long, brown overcoat, covering my weapon, and shoved my credits into the duster's inside breast pocket.

I made my way back out to the bridge. Through the window, I could see that we were closing in on the harbor.

"Mags, can you take us in?"

"No problem, Captain."

As we pulled into the large harbor, I saw hundreds of other bounty hunters. Most were clearly beginners, as they had freighters and passenger ships they were slowly converting to combat ready craft.

The Ray turned a few heads, despite her worn down exterior. She may have been worn and scratched here and there, but she was sleek, bright red, and incredibly unique. From what I understand, there was a very limited number of Rays produced. I was just lucky enough to find mine at the old scrap yard I worked at. I was able to patch her up and get her back into fighting shape.

Mags finally found a spot to dock. She pulled us in and shut down the ship, anchoring to the magnetic docking port on the walkway. Maggie, of course, remained on and would go about a few tasks. Inventory, software updates, security, etc.

I made my way to the starboard entrance of the Ray and hand scanned my way through the airlock doors. As the outer door opened, I was hit with a refreshing ocean breeze. I could taste the salt in the air. I closed the ship up behind me and headed for the primary place to hire bounty hunters; the bars.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ch 2**

I found my way to the Salty Silox, my personal favorite bar in Sea City. It was a bit rough around the edges, but it was comforting. I felt like I was at home looking up at the neon sign.

I walked into the bar and was greeted with the smell of bad liquor and peanuts. I made my way over to the worn down bar stools and took a seat.

"If it ain't Captain Jackson," Pete said, wandering over to me with a grin.

"Heya, Pete. How's running this dump goin," I joked.

"Same old, same old," he sighed. "What brings you back? I figured you'd be off on some adventures for the rest of your life."

"I'm in need of a crew, actually. Got any leads?"

"Ho, do I ever," he chuckled. "On your six there's the strongest Heranian I've ever seen."

I turned my head 90 degrees and got a good look at him with my periferal vision. Most bar dwellers don't like being ogled, and you don't want to piss of a Heranian. Heranians are a race of humanoid beetles who normally live on desert and jungle covered planets like Pharonak. They have four powerful upper arms and two powerful, but slow, legs. What they lack in speed however, they make up for in brute strength and maneuverability. Their four strong arms, each with a clawed hand, allow them to lift small ships with relative ease and punch through hulls. On top of that, they can climb on most surfaces. His face was turned, as he seemed more focused on his game of pool than anything. I could make out his face with its large bug eyes, forehead horn, and mandible ended mouth. He wore a faded tan vest with 4 jagged arm holes in it and military grade cargo pants. The light was pretty bad, but he appeared to be the blue variant of Heranian. Blues tended to be less violent and more approachable. He seemed like a good option.

"They call him Gyle. He's never lost an arm wrestling match and always stops fights. He looks mean, but he seems to be a nice guy," Pete mumbled, fixing me a drink. He knew my usual was just a beer.

"I'll definitely talk to him," I responded as Pete handed me the beer. He began searching for other candidates as I took a sip.

"Ah, there she is. On your nine, the Jexian. She's an… interesting one."

I could see her sitting alone on a stool far down the bar. She looked a bit drunk and was laughing to herself. Jexian's, known for their amphibious qualities, are natives to the Jexian System. They tend to be incredibly intelligent, mischievous, and rowdy. This Jexian had a reddish tinge to her scales with orange and pink accents to her fins. From what I could see, she was actually rather attractive. Her clawed and webbed hands and feet were dainty and agile as she played with a coin, tossing it around. Even her fish-like eyes were a beautiful pink and rather small for a Jexian. She even seemed to be swaying her tail seductively behind her. She wore old goggles around her neck and a skin tight wetsuit that would make any human girl look amazing, but because of her Jexian body she had little curves to speak of. She noticed me staring and winked. Then she hiccuped and started to laugh again.

"They call her Jazz. She's sly, an expert hacker, and a flirt," Pete chuckled. "One hell of a flirt."

"Sounds like my kind of crew member," I jested. I drank some more of the beer as Pete searched the bar once more.

"There's the last one. On your 4. The light grey Arctirran."

I turned my head a bit to the right. Then I saw her. She was a bombshell. I'd heard about Arctirrans and their natural beauty, but I'd never seen one. You wouldn't expect natives of ice covered planets to have beach bodies, but I wasn't complaining. She was sexy as all hell, thicker than oatmeal rations, and had flowing white hair. Her bright yellow eyes darted around the room as she leaned against the jukebox. I could see the fabled "snowflake" pattern on her skin. It looked more like a spider Web in my opinion, but it was still pretty cool. She was wearing a black tank top and very small Jean shorts. Clearly, the weather was scorching here for her. I looked away before she caught me looking.

"She's quite the looker, but very cold and concealed. She doesn't talk much to anybody. I don't even know her name. I've heard she's an ace gunner and pilot though. Also a great survivalist," Pete said, cleaning some glasses.

"Just those three eh? I doubt I'll get more than one of them to join me for the price I'm offering, but there's plenty of other bars around," I muttered. "Wish me luck," I said to Pete.

I made my way over to Gyle first. As I approached him, he had just won his game of pool against another Jexian.

"You want next," Gyle asked.

"No thanks, but I was wondering if we could talk."

"Bout what," the Heranian grumbled.

"Bounty hunting."

"Alright, I'll bite," he responded. I wouldn't want to ser him bite something with those mandibles.

We made our way to an empty booth and sat down across from one another.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Wes Jackson and I've been bounty hunting alone for a while now, but I would like to take on some crew members. I've heard good things about you, Gyle."

"What kind of things, human?"

"Pete over there tells me you're quite the powerhouse. Even more importantly, you can keep the peace."

"I don't like to fight."

"That's why I like you. I'm willing to pay you 20% of whatever bounties we get."

"20? That's kinda low, human."

"It's high if you consider I'll be taking on two more crew members at 20% each. I will personally only take 25%. The other 15% will directly fund my ship's upkeep."

"It's not so bad I suppose. It's better than no work," Gyle sighed. "Alright, Wes. When do we start."

"Tomorrow. Meet me at the Western Harbor tomorrow at noon. I'll be near the entrance."

We stood up and shook… appendages. It was odd shaking my hand with a claw. He set off for home, presumably to pack and say any goodbyes he needed to.

Next, I made my way to Jazz. As soon as I sat next to me, she remembered I was looking over at her.

"Hey hot stuff," she hiccuped. "Do you like what you see?" She laughed at her own joke.

"I see a very capable bounty hunter, so yes."

"Psshh! Don't act like you don't want some of this bub!"

"Pete over there told me all about you, Jazz. Genius hacker with a large flirty attitude. I think you would fit in great on my crew."

"On really." She seemed to have instantly sobered up.

"I'm willing to offer you 20% for each bounty we earn."

"Well, better than losing money at this bar all the time," she laughed.

"Alright. Meet me at noon tomorrow at the Western Harbor."

We stood up and shook hands. Hers were a bit wet and sticky, and very cold. She sat down to finish her drink.

Finally, I made my way over to the Arctirran. She was studying the jukebox, presumably looking for a certain song. I tried to approach naturally, as if I too wanted to play a song. However, as soon as I was a few feet away, she spun around and gave me an icy stare.

"What do you want," she growled in a silky voice.

In a panic, I responded, "Oh, uh I just wanted to play a song. Seems like you want to as well."

"Spare me. What do you want."

I sighed and collected my thoughts. "Pete told me you're a hell of a pilot, shot, and survivalist. I was wondering if you would be interested in bounty hunting on my ship."

She just kept staring at me. It went on for quite awhile. I stood my ground despite the awkwardness.

"You offered a job to that Jexian and Heranian, too. I bet the amount your offering is not enough between 3 crew members."

"It's 20% for all crew members. I take 25% and the other 15% is for upkeep."

"Like I said."

She was a hard bargain. "Alright. I'll just keep looking then if you're not interested," I responded, hoping the trap would work.

"Not interested? Of course I'm interested in work of any sort," she responded quickly.

"The best offer I can do is 20%."

"Is there room for promotion?"

"I would consider it," I responded.

"Fine. You have yourself a deal, human."

"Name's Wes. Wes Jackson," I put out my hand.

"Ysaldav Guhteri."

We shook hands. Her small hands were soft and warm to the touch. The only roughness was the snowflake pattern across her palm.

"Meet me at noon in the Western Harbor tomorrow."

"I was hoping to leave sooner."

"Sorry. Just wanted to make sure you all would have time to get ready."

She scoffed and left. I wasn't sure if that meant the deal was off or what, but I guess I would find out tomorrow. I headed back to my spit at the bar.

"I take it the Arcterran turned you down," Pete commented.

"No actually," I chuckled. "I have no idea why she left like that. I guess she just really wanted to leave sooner than tomorrow."

"But you hired all three?"

"Yup. It was easier than I thought. Thanks for all that info, too."

"Anytime, Wes."

I finished my beer and decided to head back to the ship. It felt weird to not be on the ship.

On the walk back to the ship, I passed a dimly lit alley. Then I heard a yelp. I turned my head to see a couple male Jexians throwing a someone against the wall. I quickly made my way towards them, ready to draw.

"Hey fellas. What's happenin," I said, approaching them.

The turned, surprised.

"Stay out of this, human. This is our meat," the bigger one said. The smaller one reached for a knife.

I quickly drew my gun. "Don't even try it," I said.

"Damn! Let's get out of here," the small one snarled. He turned and booked it. Pissed, the big Jexian did the same.

I turned to the person against the wall. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Ysaldav. She wasn't making eye contact with me.

"Oh hey. Are you alright," I said, surprised.

She didn't respond. She pushed herself off the wall and began to walk away.

"A thank you would be nice," I scoffed.

She didn't respond.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "No need to thank me. See you tomorrow."

I didn't expect a response, so I turned around and started to walk away.

"Thanks," she murmured. I was barely able to hear it.

"You're welcome."


End file.
